Babolat Pure Storm Tour: stripped/painted/weighted

En route to pick up supplies to get these frames to my liking. Far too many colour options makes deciding on one a little difficult. Went with flat black frames and cyan frames on my last efforts. Sadly they met their maker when, without warning, the court suddenly rushed towards me. Self-defense?

Black always looks solid, but white or a matte red would work well too. Will strip them first to see if the base material looks good enough to simply add a clear coat first. Yet to string them up or hit with them (ever) so it might get interesting. Will update as I go along.

Apologies for the delay. Chinese New Year = virtually all shops selling the equipment I need have been closed for a week. Managed to get sandpaper, working gloves, wire wool, face mask, paint brushes and masking tape at an international hardware store but they didn't have any paint stripper.

Ordering the rest online, hoping they can get it sent over in a day or so.

As a side note, went to view the new apartment we got and was AMAZED to discover a tennis court on the roof. Nobody told me, brilliant surprise! Might put a few tennis videos together on there once the frames are ready.

With a stack of sandpaper within reach and no paint stripper to hand, I had no patience to wait and see what lay underneath the stock paint. Doesn't look very attractive so far so doubt I will leave them bare without repainting them. Still undecided on the colour however.

Phone camera not doing many favours. Will take some better snaps tomorrow.

Can do. I've read virtually every thread on here regarding paintjobs, that seems to be the one thing most forget to do.

Seeing as I've not yet hit with this frame (bought in blind faith) or spent more than 15 mins with a Babolat frame before, it should be interesting. I haven't weighed my frames before, I've always gone by feel. I just cut off the lead tape and whack it on the frame until it feels right. From memory, I placed 4" strips of lead tape at 10.30 and 1.30. Two strips at each point, 8 in total per frame. This made the frames feel absolutely perfect.

Interestingly, I've dropped down a few grip sizes with these to an L4. After the last frames went to racquet heaven, I was left without frames for a month. I then hit with a horrible Babolat Pure Drive frame and it was an L3. Coming from an L6 it was a big, big difference. He also had a L3 Pro Staff 95 Classic and it allowed some incredible maneuverability. I was hitting shots I had previously set up to hit but couldn't execute consistently, mainly the delicate flicking passing shots and shots which required a lot more finesse. A lot of feel which I had unknowingly sacrificed through a large grip suddenly returned. So a smaller grip size with tacky overgrip was the way forward.

I used L6 in my playing days as the racquet would tend to fly out of my hand on my serve and that would be the end of it. The smaller grips felt great on the groundstrokes but didn't feel secure enough on serve, which was one of my main weapons, especially as an all-out serve-volley player. I had a match where I went through 4 frames in some seriously humid conditions. I came very close to not being able to finish that one due to only having taken 6 frames to the court. I played the last few games without flat serves to make sure I crossed the finish line.

Narrowed down to six colours. Clear red, chrome yellow, racing green, racing white, lavender and olive. Left the decision to someone else otherwise I'll procrastinate forever. Paints ordered, should be here on Tuesday. Decided not to strip the frames completely, don't have the time or patience. I will sand the frames and apply primer instead. Extra weight on light frames like these can only be a good thing for me.

Not entirely sure how long I will use these Babolat frames as the idea of returning to my beloved pro staff original 85 has popped into my head this evening. I only changed frame when Wilson stopped issuing them to players. Now daydreaming about just how sweet they felt when gliding around the court to strike the ball..

Well, this is what happens when you leave a decision to woman, lovely as she is. "Choose one colour" I said. Neon green, neon orange and some shade of purple arrived in the post today. I will prep the frames tomorrow, spray the primer and see how they look before deciding if I will apply any of these colours. The only upside to being stuck with hideous looking frames is that the 6.0 Originals will arrive that much faster.

Apologies for the delay. Chinese New Year = virtually all shops selling the equipment I need have been closed for a week. Managed to get sandpaper, working gloves, wire wool, face mask, paint brushes and masking tape at an international hardware store but they didn't have any paint stripper.

Ordering the rest online, hoping they can get it sent over in a day or so.

As a side note, went to view the new apartment we got and was AMAZED to discover a tennis court on the roof. Nobody told me, brilliant surprise! Might put a few tennis videos together on there once the frames are ready.

Here are a few shots of the work so far. As previously mentioned, I have no patience and no real need to strip the frames of paint completely (famous last words). I chose instead to rough up the surface and apply a few coats of primer to give me a base to work from.

Now the primer looks pretty sweet to me. With some black strings, the primer looks great as it is. A few more coats and some clear coat would probably be wise though. Will the other colours be used? Neon green, neon orange, purple? I wild mix of the three? I'm not entirely sure just yet. Tempted to spray one green just to see, but I'll need them to be all the same colour scheme if I do. OCD and all that.

Tarting around with these racquets is one thing, finding someone decent to play is another. The weather has also been awful for the last week. I may have to pick up a ball machine to ensure I can hit a few hundred balls each morning.

Well, day two of the spraying. I'll give the frames a light sand then add another coat of primer. Two of the three suffered paint drip due to me getting carried away yesterday. White still looks great, any good reason why I should try green, orange or purple?

I'll be waiting for the final product..... Good work so far. Though, i have to ask, but how come you didnt sand down straight to the Graphite or at least sand down the PJ that was already on there? Wouldn't that just increase the weight after you finish?

@SlowTiger
No, bought from TW who can't ship outside of the U.S (account conditions set by Babolat). Monumental pain in the backside getting them to Hong Kong as the U.S postal service isn't the best. Paid for a 3-5 day service, they landed 10 days later and were delivered by the always efficient HK Post the same day.

@Andyroo10567
Weight is good. These frames are far too light for me. My arm speed and racquet head speed are naturally very fast, but there is just nothing to swing with these, yet. There is no way I could swing my old Wilsons like this once they'd been set up properly. I'll admit, it's quite nice being able to swing a frame this fast, makes a fantastic "whoooooosh". Just not enough weight behind it.

@SlowTiger
No, bought from TW who can't ship outside of the U.S (account conditions set by Babolat). Monumental pain in the backside getting them to Hong Kong as the U.S postal service isn't the best. Paid for a 3-5 day service, they landed 10 days later and were delivered by the always efficient HK Post the same day.

@Andyroo10567
Weight is good. These frames are far too light for me. My arm speed and racquet head speed are naturally very fast, but there is just nothing to wing with these, yet. There is no way I could swing my old Wilsons like this once they'd been set up properly. I'll admit, it's quite nice being able to swing a frame this fast, make a fantastic "whoooooosh". Just not enough weight behind it.

A good deal of lead tape will be added. I will add the tape when I finish the spraying as I don't like tape under paint. I like my frames to have a slightly industrial feel about them. Hence why I am not too fussed about a flawless paintjob here. Ok I am, I but it's a good excuse just in case this all goes ar$e over tit.

@Andyroo10567
I had planned on leaving them plain. Planned? Not sure this word should be connected to this particular paintjob! Now I have this wonderful green, purple and white in front of me, I am changing my mind about having matching frames. Sort of..

@Hi I'm Ray
Check page 1 for the exact paint. I used Tamiya hobby paint which was recommended by TT poster DJnick66 in 2008. So if you are reading this DJnick, thanks a million. The recommendation made this a lot easier.

I own a hobby shop and have had 30+ years experience using both model paints and store-bought enamel and laquer paints.

Many model paints are enamels, but a majority of brands now are going to acrylics. All of your model spray paints are enamels or solvent based. The acrylics can be durable though. They aren't like poster paints that soften up when wet. Once they are dry they are permanant and quite hard to remove. They can me harder to strip or remove than enamels.

The potential problem with model enamel paints is that they are somewhat soft compared to more industrial paint jobs. Its hard to polish and buff enamels like you can lacquers or harder paints. You just wear through them if you aren't careful. Some colors like metallics can be very soft and don't dry well... they will be tacky for months and will leave finger prints or rub off on your fingers.

Clear coats work very well. Clear coats can change the color of metallics. Silver will turn grey for example. Some of the better clear coats are lacquers but those will blister and craze enamel and acrylic paints. Compatability is a big problem if you aren't careful.

You might potentially have problems with cracking due to flex in the racquet. The paints aren't desinged to flex. Letting the base coat dry a long time (few weeks) before applying any kind of clear coat will help. THen let the clear coat dry.

For the average person wanting to repaint a racquet I would recommend the Tamiya brand of spray paints and primers. Their spray paints are plastic-safe lacquers. They go on VERY smoothly, without runs, drips, splattering, etc. I use an airbrush a lot, but when I want simple, one-color finishes, I always use the Tamiya sprays. Plus they dry very quickly. The metallic colors are also excellent. They offer the usual gold, silver, aluminum shades, but also gunmetal, dark gunmetal, metallic blue, metallic red, metallic green, etc., and also clear colors to apply over metallics for a candy finish.

I would prime the racquet with Tamiya's super fine white spray primer. Especially if you want to paint it in a light or bright color. Any nicks or scratches can be filled with their liquid white brush on primer and lightly sanded out. Then apply the colors of your choice iwth the sprays. Tamiya's own brand of tape is excellent for masking. Its flexible and if you apply it right, you won't get paint creep. You can also decant the spray cans and airbrush the lacquers. They even brush paint well for little touch ups.

Paint rules of thumb... acrylics go over any finish. You can apply enamels over acrylics or lacquers. Lacquers will melt acrylic or enamel paints

With an airbrush you can paint some lacquers over other paints becuase they go on very thin and dry quickly.

For a clear coat, on Tamiya paints I recommend their own clear gloss Spray. Several thin coats followed by a heavy wet coat give a beautiful high gloss.

Future Floor Wax (Johnsons Klear outside the USA) is also an excellent high gloss clear. Check on a site like hyperscale's aircraft modelling board for Future tips. You can airbrush it, dip things, etc.

The frames have dried now. It's nearly 1am so I will spray another coat when the sun rises and sand down the two other frames before adding primer. Thinking about some lettering on the throat to finish it off.